"What's he that wishes so? My cousin Westmoreland? No, my fair cousin; If we are mark'd to die, we are enow To do our country loss; and if to live, The fewer men, the greater share of honour. God's will! I pray thee, wish not one man more. By Jove, I am not covetous for gold, Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost; It yearns me not if men my garments wear; Such outward things dwell not in my desires. But if it be a sin to covet honour, I am the most offending soul alive. No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England. God's peace! I would not lose so great an honour As one man more methinks would share from me For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more! Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host, That he which hath no stomach to this fight, Let him depart; his passport shall be made, And crowns for convoy put into his purse; We would not die in that man's company That fears his fellowship to die with us. This day is call'd the feast of Crispian. He that outlives this day, and comes safe home, Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd, And rouse him at the name of Crispian. He that shall live this day, and see old age, Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours, And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian.' Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars, And say 'These wounds I had on Crispian's day.' Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot, But he'll remember, with advantages, What feats he did that day. Then shall our names, Familiar in his mouth as household words- Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter, Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester- Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb'red. This story shall the good man teach his son; And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by, From this day to the ending of the world, But we in it shall be remembered- We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he to-day that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile, This day shall gentle his condition; And gentlemen in England now-a-bed Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here, And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day."

January 11, 2011The Curious Incident of the Dog in Finland Who Was Trained to Give a Nazi SaluteBy MICHAEL SLACKMAN

BERLIN  The case of the businessman who taught his dog to raise his paw at the command Hitler may never go down in the annals of Third Reich history as consequential, but it is has given people here a reason to laugh, not at the nations sinister deeds but at those who were responsible.

Nearly 66 years after the end of World War II, Germanys Nazi past continues to reveal itself here in ways large and small, and on an almost regular basis, often shedding new light on the unique crimes of those who ran the Third Reich and those who came to power after its fall.

The case of the dog owner the Nazis wanted to prosecute for training his canine to mock the Führer was revealed at the same time Germans learned their intelligence service knew where Adolph Eichmann, architect of the Holocaust, was hiding as early as 1952, eight years before the Israelis captured him.

The combined reports in national newspapers led last week to yet another round of Nazi-related headlines, though the one about the dog offered the unusual respite of a Nazi-era action that sounded like a punch line. The Eichmann revelation was important because it added a date to a fact historians here said was already known.

The dog affair tells us the Nazis were not only criminals and mass murderers, they were silly as hell, said Klaus Hillenbrand, a historian and author who has focused on the Nazi era and uncovered the case in federal archives. There are very few things you can laugh about because what they did was so monstrous. But there were two or three dozen people discussing the affair of the dog rather than preparing for the invasion of the Soviet Union. They were crazy.

The dogs name was Jackie.

It was 1941, shortly before the invasion of the Soviet Union, and an anonymous source tipped off the Nazi authorities: A businessman named Tor Borg, of Tampere, Finland  a country that was friendly to the Nazis but not occupied by the Reich  had a black-and-white spotted dog that he taught to mock Hitler. The German vice consul in Helsinki, Willy Erkelenz, wrote that a witness, who does not want to be named, said he saw and heard how Borgs dog reacted to the command Hitler by raising its paw.

Mr. Borg, owner of a pharmaceutical manufacturer, was apparently quite unnerved, in part because his company relied on German suppliers. The rumor might emanate from an episode in the summer of 1933 which happened within my family only and which had no ulterior political background whatsoever, he told the Nazi foreign office.

Mr. Hillenbrand, the historian, said he came across what he calls the dog affair in records stored on microfilm by the German Foreign Ministry when a friend tipped him to their existence. Mr. Hillenbrand said he decided to make the affair public as part of his decades of work highlighting Nazi-era crimes in books and articles, and that this was not intended to be flip.

This is a funny story, but it is a Nazi story which tells how they were looking for enemies everywhere, said Mr. Hillenbrand, who is also the longtime managing editor of the German newspaper Die Tageszeitung.

The other recent Nazi revelation focused on the actions of those who came to power after World War II, when the daily newspaper Bild reported that the Federal Intelligence Service knew that Mr. Eichmann was hiding in Argentina as early as 1952  a few years earlier than previously thought. The report prompted calls for the intelligence service to make public all its Nazi-era files, which it has so far refused to do, handing records over to Bild only under court order.

But the two cases, coming on the heels of other recent revelations, served as a reminder that the Nazis were fanatical record keepers and that there are untold numbers of undisclosed documents that are certain to reveal new material long into the future.

We will not have to rewrite the history of National Socialism, but it is indeed true that over the course of the last 20 years, a multitude of archival documents, in particular from archives of the former Eastern bloc, came to light, said Johannes Tuchel, head of the German Resistance Memorial Center.

And those documents are likely to serve up more surprises, like the case of Mr. Borg and his canine Jackie. Mr. Hillenbrand said the documents show that Mr. Borg was summoned to the German Embassy in Helsinki where he admitted that on a few occasions his wife called the dog Hitler and that on a few occasions it did respond with a raised paw.

But he said, that had happened at least seven years earlier.

The Nazis did not believe him. Borg, even though he claims otherwise, is not telling the truth, Mr. Hillenbrand recorded in his notes of the documents.

In the end, the case went up all the way up to the Chancellery where the decision finally was made not to prosecute, for lack of credible evidence.

This case shows that National Socialism was striving to dominate all spheres of public life and all areas that it could influence, Mr. Tuchel said. And that went as far as to this rather bizarre case of this dog.

The Washington Post reports that Jared Loughner, the man accused in the shooting massacre in Tucson on Saturday, may have posted on the UFO and conspiracy website, Abovestopsecret.com (aka, ATS). The staff of the website alleges that Loughner made these posts under the username erad3.

Bill Irvine, chief executive of the websites parent company, said that he is 99% sure that the posts were made by Loughner. Irvine added that, He [Loughner] seemed just . . . way, way out there, from some of his ideas.

As a result, a statement was posted on ATS:We here at AboveTopSecret.com, our owners, staff, and membership find ourselves in the unfortunate position of apparently being one of the largest (if not the largest) repositories of online postings by someone who has been classified as a monster (among other things) due to his (accused) actions of two days ago. Online research that began on Reddit, and continued here on ATS has resulted in an overwhelming amount of anecdotal evidence to support the notion that the erad3 member account here is Jared Loughner. Indeed, the content found in more than 4,000 Google search returns (including some pages in the mainstream press) have drawn the same conclusion.

This is a rather unique situation, to say the least. I and our staff have been considering if we should provide a public statement, and if we do, what should we say? Especially since were already being contacted by the media for comment and more information.

The postings of erad3reveal someone who clearly has many questions for which answers have been elusive if not outright impossible to obtain. And despite the best efforts by many of our members, it seemed there were no answers to be found here for which he was satisfied.

As is often typical, recent analysis in the media is rampant with all manner of conclusions, second-guesses, exaggerations, distortions, and missing information. The opinion of the staff and owners of AboveTopSecret.com is that it serves the public interest to provide an easy method to access every post made here by erad3 (normally, visitors must be logged-in to view such information).

Those who are interested in reading the posts of erad3 can follow this link to the ATS website.

The Web site Abovetopsecret.com is a place where odd ideas are welcome: Its discussion threads ask questions about UFO sightings, evidence of God, and "How do you kill an alien zombie?"

But it became an unwelcome place for a new user, who joined the site in early 2009 and called himself "Erad3." Now - based on the language in his postings, and information about where he logged on - the site's operators believe Erad3 was accused Arizona shooter Jared Lee Loughner, 22.

"I'd go with 99 percent," said Bill Irvine, chief executive of the site's parent company, when asked how certain he was that Erad3 and Loughner were the same person.

The story of those postings - now compiled online at Abovetopsecret.com - adds new detail to the story of Loughner's apparent unraveling.

In real life, friends say, Loughner had pushed away friends and alienated classmates with his odd behavior. After that, it appears, he sought a community online. But, in a gathering place for skeptics and conspiracy theorists, his views still brought ridicule - and even a plea for him to seek help.

"I think youre frankly schizophrenic, and no that's not an amateur opinion and not intended as an uninformed or insulting remark, you clearly make no sense and are unable to communicate. I really do care," a user with the nickname "mordant1" wrote July 11. "Seek help before you hurt yourself or others or start taking your medications again, please."

Erad3 responded to that with a stream of bizarre arguments, touching on ideas familiar from Loughner's YouTube videos. He wrote often about grammar, and inventing one's own currency. But he ended, "Thank you for the concern."

"It seemed like he was hoping he might fit in on a site like ours. But, as you can tell, he really didn't," Irvine said in a telephone interview Tuesday from the site's Scottsdale, Ariz., headquarters. "He seemed just . . . way, way out there, from some of his ideas."

Among Erad3's ideas: The space shuttles and the International Space Station were flying empty, without humans aboard. NASA's Mars rovers were faked. Individuals could make their own currency.

"just thought id pop in to let you know that to me you sound absolutely bonkers," one poster wrote in response.

"The name calling is about to cease!" Erad3 wrote back. He persisted in his belief that the shuttle was fake: "The entering into orbit might be able to kill a human."

None of the posts mention U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), who was apparently the initial target of Saturday's rampage. Giffords was shot in the head and seriously wounded. Six people died in the attack, and 13 others were wounded.

In none of his posts, Irvine said, did Erad3 seem to threaten violence.

By the time of the attack, Erad3 had not posted anything in several months. On Saturday, as news of the attack filtered out, other site users began to identify Erad3 as Loughner. This may have been based on the similarities between his posts on the site and YouTube videos attributed to Loughner.

SYDNEY, Australia  Tens of thousands of homes and businesses were inundated on Wednesday by raging waters that converged on Brisbane, Australias third-largest city, and the surrounding townships, creating a vast flood zone that officials said could remain under water for days.

At least 12 people have been killed this week in the latest flooding to hit the northeastern state of Queensland since November. Five children were among the latest victims, caught up in a freak flood that ripped through the highland city of Toowoomba, 80 miles west of Brisbane, and other parts of the Lockyer Valley on Monday.

What some have called an inland tsunami slammed into Brisbane, a city of 2 million people, and other densely populated coastal areas on Wednesday, causing two major river systems to burst their banks, flooding roads and displacing thousands.

As many as 20,000 homes and 3,500 businesses in Brisbanes low-lying neighborhoods were evacuated overnight Tuesday and throughout Wednesday as a slow-moving brown tide engulfed dozens of Brisbane neighborhoods. The torrent closed highways and bridges, cutting the city in two, and ripped yachts and pontoons from their moorings.

In Ipswich, about 20 miles west of Brisbane, officials estimated that 3,000 homes and businesses were partially or wholly submerged when the Bremer River burst its banks. Television images showed murky water lapping at the rooftops of businesses along the main street in the city of 150,000 people.

More than 3,500 people have sought refuge at dozens of evacuation centers that have been set up to handle the displaced, according Queensland state officials. Thousands more were expected to flock to the centers as the water continued to rise overnight.

Officials said the evacuations were mostly orderly, although there were some isolated reports of looting. Some residents ignored police warnings and used kayaks and motorboats to rescue stranded neighbors and ferry their belongings to higher ground.

You cant underestimate the water, Eric Bray, who abandoned his home when the waters reached his riverside neighborhood of Yeronga, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Its got no brain, it dont say nothing, it just dont care where its going. All you can do is just get away before it starts coming.

Volunteers set up a playground in the corner of one emergency shelter to help distract displaced children as their parents sat glued to television and radio reports seeking information about their flooded streets and neighborhoods.

Officials predict that the swollen Brisbane River, which divides the coastal capital, will peak at about 20 feet above its normal level sometime early Thursday morning. The water is not expected to subside until the weekend, when the full extent of the damage will be known.

I think we are going to wake up to a shocking and remarkable challenge, the premier of Queensland State, Anna Bligh, told reporters late Wednesday. But I sense that this is a challenge that we are up to and a challenge that we will meet.

Dozens of emergency boats and military helicopters were on standby to help with last-minute evacuations and deter looters overnight, she said.

Meanwhile, search and rescue crews began entering areas of the devastated Lockyer Valley that had been isolated since late Monday. The police have repeatedly revised the number of those missing in the chaos of the past two days; by Wednesday evening, they put it at 43 and said they had grave fears for nine of them.

Families who are still holding out hope, some of them are likely to have their hopes tragically crushed, Ms. Bligh said.

After enduring a decade of one of the worst droughts in Australian history, Queensland residents are now facing billions of dollars in flood damage. One member of Australias Reserve Bank warned Wednesday that the disaster could shave up to 1 percent off Australias gross domestic product.

The floods have virtually paralyzed the states lucrative coal and agricultural industries. Queensland produces roughly one-third of the worlds supply of coking coal, used in the production of steel. Industry analysts say global prices of coking coal and thermal coal, used to supply power plants, would rise because of the flooding.

What do aliens want? Science fiction and UFO abduction stories kind of make you wonder why aliens bother coming here at all. They descend upon Earth for some nominal reasonenslavement of the masses, a study of our physiology, a quick natural resource grab, whateverand in the end the humans whomp them. They return to the stars, caudal appendage tucked between their legs, with a begrudging acknowledgment that those bald apes may be primitive, but their indomitable humanity makes them impossible to overcome.

Preposterous! In real life, humans are sucky and weak. If metropolis-sized spacecrafts actually plopped out of the skies, wed toss over the keys to the planet in a nanosecond and surf away on waves of our own fear-pee. But we keep envisioning it going some other way. Meanwhile, we depict aliens doing really weird stuff. Slurping a sleeping lady onto a flying saucer? Tractor-beaming some hapless loser into and out of a spaceship orifice over and over again? Sending a giant alien downtown to smoosh people into jelly smears like hamsters under a hot ladys stiletto heel? Probing?

Thats right: We basically think aliens will want to have sex with us, and we expect all sorts of penetrationsome of it pleasant, a lot of it nonconsensual, a bit of it merely kinky. Once your body is snatched, the real alien invasion begins.

I know what youre thinking: What about the nice aliens? Your naïveté is adorable. And dangerous. Look at Starman: Hey, Karen Allen! I look like your dead husband. Wanna do it? Whoa, look at the time! I gotta go, sweetie! This planet is uh too hot yeah, I need to get to a colder climate or something. Heres a floating Ben Wa ball. And a baby. In Cocoon, a lady made out of light rapes Steve Guttenbergs soul in a pool. And is it that crazy to think that a movie called Close Encounters is really a space-age Red Shoe Diary? Just imagine John Williams five-tone riff on a buttery saxophone. The possibilities of E.T.s erect, luminous finger are too numerous and disturbing to list. One word, though: Oooooouuuuuuuch.

This vision is truly irrational. It is almost certainly a product of our fear of the unknown. I mean, thats a long way to travel to have sex with a different species. How far would you go to hook up with a zebra?

Unless One thing could explain all this alien misbehavior: intergalactic fetish porn. Earth is the San Fernando Valley of the Milky Way. Were just bestiality to horny higher life-forms. Think about it! How else could they fund all those invasions? It would take a multibillion-credit industry to make the prohibitive cost of interstellar travel worth it.

So next time youre puzzling your way through the hot human-on-alien action of a movie like Skyline or Battle: Los Angeles, ask yourself: Why do those people make alien-fighting so complicated? If the extraterrestrial entertainment industry is anything like ours, we humans shouldnt have to worry about uploading viruses into the alien defense grid, or sending a hate-filled Mel Gibson after the Visitors with a bucket of water. Fellow earthlings: Dont play their game. Should a hairless being with no mouth and giant eyes drag you onto some two-bit star cruiser and start pulling out tools, simply refuse to sign a video release. All my Hollywood experience tells me that this rarely used legal loophole is the only way you will be returned to your car in the desert unprobed. You might never win a Galactic Adult Video News Award, but you can sleep easy knowing that nowhere out past the final frontier is a Rigelian cephalopod stimulating its sex-lump to your undignified violation on the space-Internet.

The U. S. Army has directed Boeing to immediately stop work on the Class I Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) and the Tactical and Urban Unattended Ground Sensors, both part of the Army's Early-Infantry Brigade Combat Team (E-IBCT) program.

The Class I UAS was first developed as part of the ArmysFuture Combat Systems (FCS) program. (U.S. Army)

Boeing serves as the prime contractor for the overall program, with Honeywell as the subcontractor for the Class I UAS and Textron for the unattended sensors.

The Jan. 6 letter to Boeing directs the company to tell its subcontractors to cease any work as well.

The letter notes that the order does not stop work on the delivery of the systems, but the post-delivery support, such as continued testing, field support, training and logistics support. The stop work order also pertains to proposal preparation for brigade sets two and three, the letter says.

The stop-work order does not apply to any work related to the Network Integration Kit or the Small Unmanned Ground Vehicle, the other two systems being developed for the first increment of the Army's E-IBCT program.

All four systems were first developed for the Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) program, the service's ambitious modernization effort, which was canceled with the fiscal year 2010 budget announcement.

At the time, Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced he wanted to accelerate the fielding of the remaining FCS items.

However, after poor test results in the fall of 2009, Carter only allowed the Army to begin low-rate initial production for one set of the equipment, saying the systems needed to prove themselves during further testing before he allowed buying sets two and three.

In September, the Army conducted a second limited-user test for the equipment. While test results have not been made public, Army officials have not hid the fact that the results were not perfect.

All of the systems have had reliability problems, but the Army and Boeing have said that most of those issues had been resolved. However, military utility and affordability have been cited as concerns.

The 2009 tests showed that the images being passed by the sensors were of poor quality and therefore soldiers could not act upon them. The Class I UAS, nicknamed the flying beer keg, is known for its loud noise when flying.

The Jan. 12 meeting with Carter should shed further light on the Army's path for the program and what it intends to do with the two remaining systems: the Network Integration Kit and the Small Unmanned Ground Vehicle.

At the review, Army and DoD officials are also expected to decide whether to move forward with the initial operational test and evaluation scheduled for this fall, being conducted by the 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team of the 1st Armored Division, which is scheduled to deploy with the equipment in 2012.

The Army requested $683 million for two brigade sets in the FY11 budget request. However, that request included about $351 million for the Non-Line of Sight Launch System, which has since been terminated.

The Army planned to buy three sets under low-rate initial production and then many more under full-rate production.

Once terminated, it may take some time to negotiate a termination fee for the Class I UAS and the sensors. The termination fee for the canceled FCS Manned Ground Vehicles is still being negotiated with Boeing, even though they were officially terminated in the spring of 2009.

January 10, 2011Richard Winters Dies at 92; Led Band of BrothersBy DENNIS HEVESI

photo: Sgt Maj Herman W Clemens

Richard Winters, the commanding officer of Easy Company, the Army unit whose gritty combat from the beaches of Normandy to the capture of Hitlers mountain retreat was recounted in the book and television series Band of Brothers, died Jan. 2 in Campbelltown, Pa. He was 92 and lived in Hershey, Pa.

Oh, if the show "Band of Brothers" was just a tiny bit accurate then this man was a true hero and a very honorable man.

Thank you for your service, Sir, and r.i.p.!

All aboard the Ark Hotel! Giant biosphere is a 'self-contained haven' in event of climate change flood disaster

It looks like a cross between Noah's Ark and something out of a 1970s science-fiction film.

The futuristic Ark Hotel has been designed to withstand floods caused by rising sea levels.

The floating behemoth is a 'biosphere' conceived as a safe, self-contained haven in case of disaster.

Boasting a green, self-sustaining environment for guests, the shell-shaped hotel would withstand tidal waves and other natural disasters.

Architects say the Ark's shell-like construction of arches and cables evenly distribute weight so it is also invulnerable to earthquakes.

The design uses solar panels and a rainwater collection system to provide inhabitants with power and water.

The greenhouse-like environment also provides for lush vegetation to help with air quality and provide food sources.

Because of the see-through structure enough daylight is filtered through internal rooms to reduce the need for lighting.

And to ensure quality of light, the frame is protected with a self-cleaning layer.

SEASIDE, Ore.  As if hes taken on Fox Mulders I Want To Believe, mantra from the X-Files TV series, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange told British media recently that there are numerous enlightening references to UFOs in yet-to-be-published confidential files obtained from both the U.S. and other foreign government sources.

Assange, a 39-year-old Australian, is believed to be in hiding somewhere in southern England, states a recent report from the London-based Guardian newspaper and online information service that recently posted an interview with the WikiLeaks founder about his bounty of secret UFO files.

When asked about the UFO files that Assange said will be released soon, he noted there are details about UFOs and extraterrestrials.

"However, it is worth noting that in yet-to-be-published parts of the Cablegate archive, there are indeed references to UFOs, asserted Assange during the interview.

Britain's Guardian is one of a number of newspapers around the world with early access to these secret UFO files seen by WikiLeaks.

Here in Seaside, a popular resort community along Oregons northern coast, theres been a boom in something called UFO travel destinations, quips local shop owner Doris Parsons.

At the same time, theres more and more urban myths about the Oregon coast and UFO sightings.And, the popular TV show and movie series the X-Files hasnt helped to squelch such rumors since its first episode was set and filmed at Seaside.

The X-Files was based on fact along with fiction. The X-Files pointed to crop circles as being commonly cited as evidence of alien visits. The program also noted that the discovery of life-supporting water in the form of ice on Mars is proof that alien life exists in our universe.

Moreover, in the pilot for the highly successful X-Files series, Dana Scully is assigned to work with Fox Mulder, whos an FBI agent that specializes in the paranormal. Together, they travel to the central Oregon coast and visit Stonefield Beach, and then Seaside where Mulder believes several teenagers have been abducted by aliens.

While this sounds farfetched, locals say it actually happened.

I get more people asking about that first X-Files episode than say wheres a good place to have fish and chips. Its crazy, but good for business, says Parsons with a sly smile.

Moreover, one of the leading UFO investigation groups known as MUFON, for Mutual UFO Network, Inc. has a growing population of members and fans here who view unidentifiable flying object (UFOs) as a growth industry at a time when Oregons tourism industry is on the skids.

Parsons, who proudly displays the MUFON magazine in her shop, explains that the recession has forced people to cut back on rest and relaxation. But, the UFO stuff is peaking their interest. Now, were a UFO destination."

MUFONs charter states that it will seek to investigate the UFO phenomenon in a scientific manner as funds and expertise allow. To this end, MUFON strives to establish a presence in every state of the United States and even in every country of the world since the UFO phenomenon knows no boundaries.

MUFON members advise those who are frightened of having first contact, that its perfectly safe.

At the same time, MUFON guidance for civilians is a UFO sighting is not so much something you see, but more of a feeling along the lines of a deeper psychic intuition.

One Oregon MUFON expert notes that when he takes say a couple hundred photos an hour of UFOs over Oregon communities that, perhaps, only about two or three show a UFO clearly enough to say its alien.

At the same time, a local Oregon UFO group called The Trails End Paranormal Society of Oregon, is planning their annual gathering at nearby Portland for this Spring, and Parsons says shes been contacted about having a special tour of the wooded area near Seaside where the teens were abducted.

Here at Seaside, a massive poster from the Sixties cult TV program The Invaders hangs prominently in Parsons shop. The poster reads:

"The Invaders, alien beings from a dying planet. Their destination: the Earth. Their purpose: to make it their world. David Vincent has seen them, for him it began one lost night on a lonely country road, looking for a short cut that he never found. It began with the landing of a craft from another galaxy. Now, David Vincent knows that the Invaders are here, that they have taken human form. Somehow he must convince a disbelieving world that the nightmare has already begun."

The Invaders ran for just two seasons, from January 1967 to March 1968. However, the program has a loyal following in Europe and other parts of the world, and is still discussed in the UFO community.

BELLINGHAM - The Whatcom County Courthouse was evacuated for several hours Wednesday, Jan. 12, after a suspicious briefcase was found on the buildings second floor.

An employee noticed the briefcase and alerted a Whatcom County Sheriff's deputy, who tried to find its owner. He was unable to do so and considered the briefcase suspicious, so he alerted his superiors.

They determined that aspects of the briefcase were suspicious enough that it posed a threat, and ordered the courthouse evacuated shortly before 10:30 a.m., Sheriff Bill Elfo said.

Elfo wouldn't specify what about the briefcase seemed suspicious. A bomb squad with the Bellingham Police Department and the Washington State Patrol responded and determined the briefcase did not pose a threat, Elfo said. The courthouse reopened at about 1 p.m.

Elfo said police were able to identify the briefcase's owner. He said that person has been arrested at the courthouse previously for causing disruptions.

He said he believes that person intentionally left the briefcase to cause another disruption. He declined to identify that person.

MOSCOW  As Capt. Arkadiusz Protasiuk peered down at a dense fog over the Russian city of Smolensk last April, weighing whether to land an aircraft carrying Polands president and dozens of other government officials, no one told him what to do.

But no one had to, according to a Russian-led investigation of the subsequent crash, which killed everyone on board.

Captain Protasiuk had been in an eerily similar position in 2008, according to the report on the inquiry, which was released Wednesday. Still a co-pilot then, he looked on as his captain defied President Lech Kaczynskis order to make a risky landing in Georgias capital, Tbilisi. Mr. Kaczynski was reported by the Polish news media to be furious, remarking that if someone decides to become a pilot, he cannot be fearful.

There were consequences: The president was forced to drive all day. The defiant captain never flew the presidents plane again, the report says. And when Captain Protasiuk himself became a captain, the memory of that day returned to him over Smolensk.

Since April 10, when Mr. Kaczynski and 95 others died in a Russian forest, Captain Protasiuks decision to land has remained a mystery. A nine-month inquiry by the Interstate Aviation Committee, which investigates air disasters in the former Soviet Union, sketches out an intricate psychological portrait of a captain and the invisible pressures on him. The report attributes the crash to pilot error, but it also strongly suggests that the blame extends to some of his passengers.

Polish officials on Wednesday rejected the analysis, and indeed, a cockpit voice recording offers no evidence that Mr. Kaczynski or any other official ordered the pilot to land. But the Russian-led report evokes a cascade of stress  much of it emanating from his powerful passengers  as Captain Protasiuk slipped below the decision altitude.

The commander of Polands air force was right behind him in the cockpit, and, investigators concluded from remarks he made to crew members, the memory of Mr. Kaczynskis wrath in Tbilisi was fresh in his mind.

The pilot recognized the complicated and dangerous nature of the situation, it concluded. On the other hand, there was a motive to complete the tasks and wishes of the Main Passenger.

The question of blame could hardly be more delicate. The disaster occurred against the backdrop of longstanding tension between Moscow and Warsaw, and initially seemed grounds for a deeper rift. Instead, Russias outpouring of sympathy laid the groundwork for a political reconciliation.

That warmth has not extended to the investigative stage. Polish leaders pressed investigators to look into such possible causes as airport equipment and air traffic control, repeatedly seeking information on those subjects from Russia. Many responded angrily Wednesday: Mr. Kaczynskis twin brother, Jaroslaw, a prominent opposition leader, said Polands prime minister should never have trusted the inquiry to Russians.

If we were to take this report seriously, we would have to assume that the whole crew and some of the passengers on this flight were suicidal, Jaroslaw Kaczynski told reporters in Warsaw.

Polands prime minister, Donald Tusk, who called an earlier draft of the text unacceptable, cut short a vacation to return to Warsaw. Eugeniusz Klopotek, a lawmaker, said Warsaw should revisit the softer line it had taken recently toward Russia. I feel slapped in the face, he said.

The report excludes many external factors that could have contributed to the crash  the aircraft, air traffic control, radio communications and meteorological support, among others  and at times reads like psychoanalysis. Indeed, it relied heavily on psychologists. After more than a decade as a co-pilot, it says, Captain Protasiuk had the conformist, conflict-averse personality to suit that role.

As the plane approached Smolensk, amid multiple warnings about the weather, Captain Protasiuk seemed to be recalling the presidents anger in Tbilisi, remarking, Im not sure, but if we dont land here, hell give me trouble, the report says, citing voice recordings. The investigators suspect another reference was made to Mr. Kaczynski when a crew member said, as the plane descended, Hell blow his stack if on top of all of this. ...

Ratcheting up that stress was the presence of Gen. Andrzej Blasik, the commander of Polands air force, who, voice recordings show, entered the cockpit two minutes before the crash. General Blasik was mildly intoxicated, the report says, and despite the obviously hazardous conditions, he did not suggest diverting to another airport nearby. His silence was itself a form of pressure, the report contends.

He kept himself aloof from the emergency situation, by this confirming the motive of completing the task of mandatory landing at the destination airdrome, the report says, remarking that the presence of high-ranking officials in the cockpit evidently increased the stress and distracted the crew from their duties.

At that point, the pilot was torn between his impulse to pull up or try the landing, the report says. He descended too quickly, looking away from his instruments to search for the runway through the fog. The plane snagged a birch tree with one wing and slammed into the ground, the report said, with a force that amounted to 100 times gravity.

Officials in Moscow emphasized that the investigation involved civil and military experts from Poland, Russia and the United States, among other countries, according to the Interfax news service. Asked why no Polish investigators were at the news conference on Wednesday, Tatyana Anodina, head of the Interstate Aviation Committee, said that announcing the results of an inquiry was the prerogative of the country that carried it out.